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Immigration and Tariffs Highlight Donald Trump's Long State of the Union Speech; Situation in the Mexican State of Jalisco has Returned to Normal Following Days of Violence-Related Clashes on the Death of El Mencho. Aired 3-3:45a ET

Aired February 25, 2026 - 03:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church, Just ahead.

President Trump tried to claim economic success in his State of the Union address while Democrats criticized him for failing to address rising costs for millions of Americans.

The State Department has lifted a shelter-in-place order for Americans in Mexico following the death of a cartel leader.

And the Pentagon gives Anthropic a deadline to remove some safeguards from its A.I. model or risk losing a massive contract.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Thanks for joining us.

President Donald Trump has set the record for the longest State of the Union speech in U.S. history. He touted his economic policies and leadership on the world stage, claiming they've made the country stronger than ever before.

The President focused on his tariff policy, arguing it's saving the country, protecting world peace and will one day replace income taxes. He also claimed inflation is falling, wages are rising and more Americans are finding jobs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP. U.S. PRESIDENT: People are asking me, please, Mr. President, we're winning too much. We're not used to winning in our country.

Until you came along, we're just always losing. If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support. The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens. But when it comes to the corruption that is plundering, really, it's

plundering America. There's been a stunning example that Minnesota, where members of the Somali community have pillaged an estimated $19 billion from the American taxpayer. Oh, we have all the information.

And in actuality, the number is much higher than that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The President lashed out at Democrats, calling them crazy and saying they should be ashamed of themselves for not supporting his immigration policies or his opposition to transgender care for minors. He urged Congress to restore funding for the Department of Homeland Security and pass the SAVE Act requiring nationwide voter I.D.

CNN's Ivan Rodriguez has more now from Washington.

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UNKNOWN: Mr. Speaker, the President of the United States.

IVAN RODRGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the first State of the Union address of the second term, an energetic and defiant President Donald Trump.

TRUMP: The state of our union is strong.

RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): He turned to Capitol Hill to declare what he calls a new age of American prosperity.

TRUMP: After just one year, I can say with dignity and pride that we have achieved a transformation like no one has ever seen before and a turnaround for the ages.

RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): With the midterm elections at stake and the economy in the spotlight, the President praised several cost-saving initiatives like lowering some prescription drug prices and cutting taxes. Trump also defended key pillars of his agenda that have been subject to controversy, including his global tariff initiative struck down by the Supreme Court last week.

TRUMP: I used these tariffs, took in hundreds of billions of dollars to make great deals for our country.

RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): And immigration.

TRUMP: We now have the strongest and most secure border in American history by far. In the past nine months, zero illegal aliens have been admitted to the United States.

RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): In a deviation from a traditional State of the Union address, Trump also handed out awards to some invited guests and recognized a gold medal winning men's hockey team, including star goaltender Connor Hellebuyck.

TRUMP: I will soon be presenting Connor with the highest civilian honor in our country, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): In Washington, I'm Ivan Rodriguez.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: U.S. Democrats are seeking to contrast their party from President Trump's vision for America. Many of the party's lawmakers boycotted the State of the Union address entirely, while others are zeroing in on key issues like the cost of living. Shortly after the President's address, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger delivered a sharp rebuke of the Trump administration's tariff policies in her Democratic response.

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GOV. ABIGA.I.L SPANBERGER (D-VA): Even though the Supreme Court struck these tariffs down four days ago, the damage to us, the American people, has already been done.

Meanwhile, the President is planning for new tariffs, another massive tax hike on you and your family. And Republicans in Congress? They remain unwilling to assert their constitutional authority to stop him.

So I'll ask again. Is the President working to make life more affordable for you and your family? We all know the answer is no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Ivan Watson joins us now live from Hong Kong with international reaction to President Trump's speech. Good to see you again, Ivan. So in his address, President Trump said he will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon, but also insisted his preference is to continue with diplomacy despite the largest U.S. military buildup near Iran since the Iraq war.

What is the latest from Iran on all of this? And of course, the overall reaction to what he said?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I don't think we're any closer, Rosemary, to knowing whether or not there could be a war in the days ahead between the U.S. and Iran.

You have an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson who's posted a statement in the past hour or so on social media basically saying, quote, "professional liars are good at creating the illusion of truth. Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth."

Right now, you're seeing a different post. This is from the foreign minister of Iran hours before the State of the Union speech in which he said Iran will under no circumstances ever develop a nuclear weapon.

President Trump, in his speech when he addressed Iran, he said that that is the crux of the dispute right now. Take a listen to what he had to say.

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TRUMP: We are in negotiations with them. They want to make a deal, but we haven't heard those secret words. We will never have a nuclear weapon.

My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy. But one thing is certain. I will never allow the world's number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon.

Can't let that happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Right. So, Iran and the U.S. are scheduled to resume negotiations in Geneva on Thursday. Otherwise, this brinksmanship very much continues.

And in fact, you had some senior Trump administration officials who gave a classified briefing to top U.S. lawmakers before the State of the Union speech. And some of those lawmakers then emerged saying that the U.S. is at a very serious moment.

So, things are still very tense. And we do not know if we could be on the verge of another regional Middle Eastern conflict.

CHURCH: Yes, very unnerving. And Ivan, even with the longest State of the Union address in U.S. history, President Trump only briefly mentioned Ukraine, which is now, of course, marking four years of war with Russia. How is that being received?

WATSON: Right. Briefly mentioned Ukraine, never said the word China throughout the entire speech, perhaps because he's going to travel to Beijing at the end of next month. He talked about getting more funding for defense budgets from NATO countries, he talked about the campaign to bomb boats in the Eastern Pacific and in the Caribbean, and actually made a rather off-color joke saying that this very seriously damaged their fishing industry, even though scores of people are believed to have been killed by that.

And then he repeated this favorite exaggeration that he ended eight wars and, in fact, claims to have saved tens of thousands of lives, millions of lives between India and Pakistan, and even saved the life of the Prime Minister of Pakistan when both countries came to blows last year. That's created some tension between India and Pakistan right now.

And then when it comes to Ukraine, that's the ninth war that Trump once famously said he would end within 24 hours. This week is the four-year anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Trump conceded that some 25,000, in his words, soldiers are dying on the battlefield every month.

[03:10:01] And still, despite multiple rounds of negotiations and at times repeating Kremlin talking points, the Trump administration appears no closer to brokering an end to Europe's most deadly war. Rosemary.

CHURCH: Our thanks to Ivan Watson, brings that live report from Hong Kong. I appreciate it.

And I spoke last hour to Richard Johnson, a senior lecturer in U.S. politics at Queen Mary University of London, and I asked what stood out to him about the President's address.

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RICHARD JOHNSON, SR. LECTURER, QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON: Big picture, this was a speech to the party, not necessarily a speech to the nation. Donald Trump's approval rating is just sub of 40 percent. And there are different ways that a President whose approval rating is in that area can try and improve it.

One is to try to win the approval of independents and supporters of the opposite party. There was no attempt really to do that in the speech. He called Democrats crazy, he described them as destroying the country.

This is an extraordinary thing. If he went back 10 years ago to Barack Obama's final State of the Union address and said that the next President will be talking in such terms, we would have thought it to be unbelievable.

But what I think he is doing is he's trying to improve his approval ratings among Republicans, because that has dropped as well. He's about 80 percent approval among Republicans. So if he can boost that up to, let's say, 90 percent, or even 95 percent, as he's had at various points in his presidencies, then he could push himself back over and above the 40 percent line.

And I do think that that's the big picture political calculation that's going on here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: President Trump also mentioned restoring security in Mexico. Cartel members went on a rampage over the weekend after their leader, El Mencho, was killed in a military raid.

Mexican troops are now in Jalisco to reinforce security. The U.S. State Department and Mexican officials say the situation has returned to normal. President Claudia Sheinbaum has also reassured people that there's no risk coming to Mexico for World Cup matches this June.

But while the government tries to portray calm, there's still a lot of uncertainty, as CNN's David Culver reports.

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DAVID CULVER, CNN SR. U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's a real effort across this country, and certainly here within the state of Jalisco, to project a sense of security, of calm, stability.

In fact, we were just on the base hearing from the governor of this state. And one of the things he messaged to the general public, you had about two, three dozen Mexican media, is that the code red has been lifted, public transportation is back open. You can see cars returning to the streets, businesses are opening back up.

Tomorrow's schools are scheduled to open. And he said that things are safe. Now, saying it and experiencing it are two very different things.

As soon as we wrapped our interview with him, we were hurried off the base very quickly. We saw military personnel running, and it was made clear to us that there was a nearby threat, that they were trying to have us not be anywhere near. And so it gives you a sense of just how quickly things can turn.

We were just told to move along. We were parked there, right at the convenience store, and across the street from the base that we were just on. And they are seemingly uneasy about something that's happening in the area.

Now, President Trump is going to be addressing the nation tonight. He will no doubt make mention of the killing of El Mencho. He's calling for the total elimination of cartels in Mexico.

Is that even possible?

PABLO LEMUS NAVARRO, GOVERNOR OF JALISCO STATE: Yes, it's possible. And I think the collaboration between the U.S. government and the Mexican government, it's something that it's very important so we can have better results in security in Mexico.

CULVER: There's a lot of skepticism still amongst the general public, and something that's been emphasized in the media here, that even with the removal of El Mencho, that things will somehow return to normal. They believe that there were five individuals, and these folks have been profiled essentially on television here and across the media, as potential successors to this leadership role of the cartel.

And they believe that if those five individuals can somehow come to an agreement and choose one, then the power will be consolidated. If not, you have a fractured cartel, similar to what Sinaloa has been experiencing in recent years. And the concern with the latter part of that is that it will lead to more infighting, more violence that could very well spill over and impact, once again, the general public here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Coming up, Ukrainians tell CNN that they are tired of resilience after four years of war. We'll hear their stories just ahead.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHURCH: The European Union says Ukraine has a clear path to membership in the bloc, and is promising more financial aid as Ukraine enters its fifth year of war with Russia. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited Kyiv on the fourth anniversary of Russia's invasion. She says the E.U. will deliver on a $105 billion loan despite Hungary's veto, and will work on a new winter energy package for Kyiv as Russian airstrikes target Ukraine's power plants.

[03:20:09]

CNN's Clarissa Ward is in Kyiv to see how Ukrainians are coping with four years of fear, hardship, cold, and loss.

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CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We were here, of course, four years ago, as those Russian bombs began falling and Russian tanks began rolling in, and we've been coming back regularly ever since. And I can honestly say I have never seen the country in quite such a bleak state. A lot of people here now really feel that they've reached a breaking point, that they simply don't have the endurance to keep on going.

This has obviously been a particularly brutal winter, the coldest in recent memory. There have been relentless Russian strikes on Ukraine's infrastructure, constant power outages, heating outages. Hundreds of buildings here in Kyiv will not even have heating or power for the rest of the winter.

We met a young mother, a single mother, with a three-year-old daughter who is often carrying her up and down ten flights of stairs to get in and out of her apartment. And I think there's an increasing sense of bitterness here, too.

Like, what happened to the United States? They used to be our closest partner. Now they feel abandoned.

We spoke to President Zelenskyy. We put this to him.

We said, you know, how is the relationship now? He said that they had good contacts in December, that the negotiating teams are talking on pretty much an everyday basis. But he did have a personal plea for President Trump. Take a listen.

This woman said to me, I never want to hear the word resilient again. I am so over being resilient, I am so exhausted, I am so broken. What do you tell Ukrainian people right now who are feeling that, that they're done?

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: It's very difficult. It's very understandable and painful that we want to end this war as quick as possible. And really, each day we do all we can.

I speak with all the partners. I try to negotiate. I'm asking different partners in different continents, help me to stop Putin.

But if we will give him all he wants, we will lose everything.

WARD: When we asked him what he would like to hear from President Trump in his State of the Union address, he took a very long pause while he was thinking about it. And then he said simply, we want him to stay on our side.

And the very fact that he had to say that and so many Ukrainians feel that they are now in that position of almost begging the U.S. to keep its focus on Ukraine, to continue supporting Ukraine, I think is a pretty staggering assessment of just how much things have changed in these four years.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And we'll be right back.

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CHURCH: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom," I'm Rosemary Church. I want to check today's top stories for you.

Schools in the Mexican state of Jalisco are set to resume classes Wednesday after the violent response to the death of cartel leader El Mencho. Flights are also getting back to normal and the U.S. State Department lifted its shelter-in-place alert for tourists in the impacted areas.

President Trump claims his tariffs and economic policies have ushered in a new golden age for the U.S. During his State of the Union speech, he blamed President Biden for the affordability crisis. But now he says prices are falling, wages are rising and more Americans have jobs.

During his State of the Union speech, President Trump finally gave Congress and the world insight into his approach towards Iran. The President said that he will quote "never allow Tehran to have a nuclear weapon," but that he still prefers to cut a deal.

President Trump's remarks on Iran come just days before the next round of negotiations between Washington and Tehran. Those talks are expected to take place in Geneva on Thursday. CNN's Paula Hancocks has more on what Iranians are saying.

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PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are hearing though from this source that this plan could show compromise when it comes to limiting the enrichment of uranium. Now we have heard from U.S. President Trump he doesn't want any enrichment of uranium. So potentially there is still a gap between the two sides.

But we did hear from Iranian officials telling Reuters that potentially the highly enriched uranium that is believed to still be in country, potentially Iran could export part of that. They could dilute another part of that as part of this compromise.

We heard from the U.N. just last year that they believe there's some 440 kilograms of this highly enriched uranium, one of the key sticking points when it comes to these discussions.

[03:30:00]

We have consistently though been hearing from Iran that they only want to talk about the nuclear program and that they do also want to be talking about potential lifting of sanctions and economic relief. So really what we are going to see over the next couple of days could show us exactly what is going to be happening when it comes to this issue.

We heard from one source familiar -- one regional source, quote, "this Thursday will decide everything, a war or a deal, those crucial talks that will be taking place in Geneva."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: During his State of the Union address, President Trump highlighted U.S. involvement in Venezuela following the capture of Nicolas Maduro.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: American oil production is up by more than 600,000 barrels a day and we just received from our new friend and partner, Venezuela, more than 80 million barrels of oil. We're working closely with the new President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez, to unleash extraordinary economic gains for both of our countries and to bring new hope to those who have suffered so terribly. They really did suffer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The President also put the spotlight on a freed Venezuelan political prisoner. As he introduced a guest, Trump explained that her uncle, a political opposition figure, had been imprisoned by Nicolas Maduro. Then Trump surprised the House chamber by presenting Enrico Marquez, who tearfully hugged his niece.

The closure of a notorious prison in Caracas and the passing of a new amnesty law in Venezuela is resulting in the release of hundreds of political detainees.

In London, lawyers for Peter Mandelson say his arrest was prompted by a baseless suggestion that he planned to leave the country. The former U.K. ambassador to the U.S. was arrested and questioned on Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office amid the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. He was later released on bail.

His lawyers say his overriding priority is to cooperate with police and clear his name. Mandelson has not publicly commented on the allegations and previously apologized for his association with Epstein.

A.I. firm Anthropic faces a Friday deadline to comply with the Pentagon's demands for greater access to its A.I. models. But the company has concerns about two major areas for potential misuse in the hands of the U.S. military. Details straight ahead.

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[03:35:00]

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CHURCH: Let's take a look at business headlines.

U.S. markets closed higher on Tuesday, erasing some of the losses from Monday's big sell-off. The Dow gained 370 points and the Nasdaq finished about 1 percent higher. Tech stocks led the charge just a day after fears over A.I. disruptions rattled investors, economists warn this kind of volatility will continue as investors weigh the impact A.I. will have on a variety of sectors.

The back-and-forth over whether Netflix or Paramount will control CNN's parent company Warner Bros. Discovery has escalated. Paramount presented a new proposal which includes raising its offer to $31 per share. Netflix and WBD had come to a merger agreement which remains in place, analysts believe Netflix will likely match Paramount's new offer.

Spirit Airlines has struck a deal to pull itself out of bankruptcy after struggling since the pandemic. The budget-friendly airline has suspended several domestic routes and even sold aircraft and gates to raise cash and reduce debt. While things are looking up, analysts say Spirit will still offer nearly 40 percent fewer flights and seats this summer compared to the same period in 2024.

Well the Pentagon is threatening A.I. firm Anthropic to remove some of its safeguards on its A.I. model or risk losing lucrative U.S. military contracts. Sources say Anthropic is not willing to budge on two key issues, the use of A.I.-controlled weapons and mass surveillance.

CNN's Hadass Gold has our report.

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HADASS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Pentagon is giving A.I. company Anthropic until 5:01 p.m. on Friday to drop some of its internal guardrails or risk not only losing their $200 million Pentagon contract but also being put on what amounts to a military blacklist. This all came to a head on Tuesday morning at a meeting at the Pentagon between Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Anthropic CEO Dario Amadei.

At issue is this contract because the Pentagon wants Anthropic to drop some of its internal guardrails because they want to be able to use their Claude A.I. system for all lawful use. But Anthropic has a few concerns.

One of their concerns is that they don't want A.I. to be used to autonomously control weapons. They don't believe that A.I. is reliable enough yet for that sort of use.

[03:40:03]

They're also concerned about A.I. being used for mass domestic surveillance of American citizens. A source familiar with the situation telling me that Anthropic just doesn't believe that there's good rules and laws in place to help govern how A.I. could be used in surveillance of American citizens.

This has anger at the Pentagon. A Pentagon official telling CNN that not only will Anthropic risk losing their Pentagon contract but they're also at risk of being deemed a supply chain risk. What this means is that any company in the United States who has a contract with the military will have to make sure that any of their work with the military doesn't touch an Anthropic product.

A lot of Anthropic's business right now is with these big corporate clients who use their Claude A.I. system. This could be a huge hit on Anthropic's bottom line. The Pentagon has also threatened to also compel Anthropic to work with them under what's called the Defense Procurement Act which gives the government the ability to almost force companies to work with them when it comes to national security concerns.

A Pentagon official telling CNN that legality is the Pentagon's responsibility as the end user and claiming that the Pentagon has only given out lawful orders. Anthropic for their part says that they continue the good faith conversations about their usage policy on Tuesday in this meeting with the Pentagon. They went on to say that Anthropic will continue to support the government's national security mission in line with what their models can reliably and responsibly do.

The deadline though is looming 5:01 p.m. on Friday. A source familiar telling me that it doesn't seem as though Anthropic is going to budge.

Hadass Gold, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: So we all fell in love with Punch the monkey last week and his substitute mother, an orangutan plushie. Zookeepers gave Punch that stuffed animal which is from Swedish furniture brand IKEA.

Selling for just under U.S. $20, Punch's substitute mom became a sought after item with his overnight fame. An IKEA store in Singapore said the plushie has been sold out since Monday, on auction sites they are going for as much as U.S. $350.

Humans are funny aren't they? Pigeons used to serve as crucial messengers throughout history because of their ability to travel long distances and return to their owners. Now in Iraq they have gained the spotlight in the nation's popular bird sporting world.

This center says it has trained thousands of pigeons to withstand hours of continuous flight using electronic identification rings that allow them to track their movements. They typically train the birds for a year before entering them into competitions. Our race -- one race I should say, recently drew 830 birds for a challenge spanning more than 450 kilometers.

I want to thank you so much for your company, I'm Rosemary Church. Enjoy the rest of your day.

"World Sport" is next, then Rahel Solomon will have more news at the top of the hour. Do stay with us.

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[03:45:00]

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